Introduction to Creativity and Problem Solving Lecture

1. Grouping
Late Arrivals
14
& 12 8 6 2
15 Late Arrivals
10 7 4 1
Research
11 9 5 3 Team
1 Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development 2012
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

2. Creativity and problem solving
Thomas J. Howard
https://sites.google.com/site/thomasjameshowardhomepage/
thow@mek.dtu.dk
Unless otherwise stated, this material is under a Creative
Commons 3.0 Attribution–Share-Alike licence and can be
freely modified, used and redistributed but only under the
same licence and if including the following statement:
“Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark”

3. Agenda
08:30 – Introduction
08:40 – Exercise 1
09:00 – Break
09:15 – Lecture on creativity related theory
09:40 – Exercise 2
10:00 – Break
10:15 – Training for a creativity method
10:40 – Exercise 3
11:00 – Break
11:15 – Summary of the problems
11:30 – Lecture on creativity methods
3 Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development 2012
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

4. Today’s Learning Objectives
• We will introduce to you theory and methods believed to
enhance creative problems solving.
• Give you example exercises to practice using these
approaches.
This will help you to:
– Develop a mindset for creative problem solving
– Identify barriers to creativity
– Apply creative problem solving methods
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: To validate the teaching and
methods, please help us!
4 Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development 2012
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

5. The Research Team
Morten Friis-Olivarius
Copenhagen Business School
mf.marktg@cbs.dk
http://www.cbs.dk/staff/Morten Friis-Olivarius
Balder Onarheim
Copenhagen Business School
balder@onarheim.com
http://www.onarheim.com/
Anja Maier
DTU – Management Engineering
mf.marktg@cbs.dk
http://www.dtu.dk/Service/Telefonbog.aspx?lg=showcommon&id=59683&type=person
Thomas J. Howard
DTU – Mechanical Engineering
thow@mek.dtu.dk
https://sites.google.com/site/thomasjameshowardhomepage/
5 Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development 2012
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

6. Our research in this area
Howard, Thomas J.; Dekoninck, Elies A.; Culley, Steve J. (2010): The use of creative stimuli at early stages of
industrial product innovation Research in Engineering Design , 21(4), 263-274 , doi:10.1007/s00163-010-0091-4
Howard, Thomas J .; Culley, Steve J.; Dekoninck, Elies A. (2008): Describing the creative design process by the
integration of engineering design and cognitive psychology literature Design Studies , 29(2), 160-180
, doi:10.1016/j.destud.2008.01.001
Howard, Thomas J.; Culley, Steve J.; Dekoninck, Elies A. (2011): Reuse of ideas and concepts for creative stimuli
in engineering design Journal of Engineering Design , 22(8), 565-581 , doi:10.1080/09544821003598573
Friis-Olivarius, M.;Wallentin, M.; Vuust, P. (2009); Improvisation: the neural foundation for Creativity; Proceedings
of the seventh ACM conference on Creativity and cognition - C&C '09 [1-60558-865-2] pg:411
Ball, L.J., Onarheim, B., and Christensen, B.T. (2010). Design Requirements, Epistemic Uncertainty and Solution
Development Strategies in Software Design.Design Studies, special issue SPSD, 31, 567-589.
Onarheim, B. (2010). Using a Company Brainstorm for Employee-Driven Innovation: A case study. Design Principles
and Practices: An International Journal, 4(6), 347-354.
Onarheim, B. (2011). Creativity from constraints in engineering design: Lessons learned at Coloplast. Journal of
Engineering Design, iFirst, 2011, 1–14.
Maier, Anja ; Moultrie, James ; Clarkson, P John (2012); Assessing Organizational Capabilities: Reviewing and
Guiding the Development of Maturity Grids in journal: I E E E Transactions on Engineering Management (ISSN:
0018-9391) (DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2010.2077289) vol: 59, issue: 1, pages: 138-159, 2012, I E E E
Maier, Anja M ; Kreimeyer, Matthias ; Lindemann, Udo ; Clarkson, P John; (2009): Reflecting communication: a key
factor for successful collaboration between embodiment design and simulation in journal: Journal of Engineering
Design (ISSN: 0954-4828) (DOI: 10.1080/09544820701864402) , vol: 20, issue: 3, pages: 265-287
6 Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development 2012
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

7. Rules for Today
For the research done today to be valid, we need some rules
so that the experimental set-up is consistent and
comparable with other studies.
Rules for the experiment:
– Each exercise will last exactly 20 minutes
– Turn the problem sheet over so that all members can see it
– Give the first one-two minutes to read/understand the task
– Brainstorm solutions to the task, remembering to:
• Voice your ideas out loud
• Defer judgement
• Sketch all of your ideas!
• As many ideas as you can!!
– With two minutes left you will be asked to rate your top idea by
placing a red dot next to the favoured idea.
– Do not discuss the tasks with other groups!!!
7 Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development 2012
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

8. Grouping
Late Arrivals
14
& 12 8 6 2
15 Late Arrivals
10 7 4 1
Research
11 9 5 3 Team
8 Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development 2012
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark

9. Exercise 1
AS MANY IDEAS AS YOU CAN!!!
18 minute timer:
Now start to select your best idea
2 minute timer:
END! www.A6training.co.uk
9 Original material by Thomas J. Howard for course 42629 – Innovation and Product Development 2012
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Technical University of Denmark